Gunny
by madame.alexandra
Summary: LBSF: This is the tale of why Gibbs decided Levi would call him 'gunny.' i.e. : an LB/SF tag that deals with the day Levi was born to a teenaged mother (you know, Kelly).


_**a/n:**_ lb/sf tag, but another one that just deals with Kelly-Gibbs-Levi - the day Levi was born!

* * *

He was sitting in an uncomfortable, beaten old chair outside of labor and delivery and looking down at his knees with quiet patience. He knew these things couldn't really be rushed, but he didn't know what was taking so long, or what he was supposed to be doing in the meantime. He wasn't the expectant father this time, and he figured in better circumstances, he'd be here with Shannon, waiting for Kelly's husband to come out and tell them if they had a granddaughter or a grandson.

As it stood – Shannon had died years ago, Kelly wasn't married, and his about-to-be-born grandchild had no father in sight – though, at some point obviously, there had apparently been a father.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs had a frayed knit baby blanket in his hand, one that Shannon had made for Kelly years and years ago – but not enough years, in Gibbs' opinion – that he planned on giving Kelly as soon as a nurse or a doctor came to get him.

He hoped his daughter was okay. She hadn't wanted him in the delivery room. He didn't know how he felt about that – on one hand, he didn't particularly want to get that personal with Kelly: he thought the only person who should be in the room when a woman gave birth was the father of the baby and the medical team – but then again, he didn't want Kelly to be alone, in case she got scared, or something when wrong.

But – as Kelly kept insisting – she was a big girl now, and she had to start acting like it for the sake of this baby. Still – he didn't like that his nineteen-year-old daughter was being handled by strangers without friends or family in sight. Her friends wouldn't even get to visit her after the baby was born – most of them had headed back to school for their sophomore semesters at schools in other states.

Kelly, meanwhile, had transferred to a school that enabled her to live back at home, and though she would be starting her sophomore year on time, she'd have an infant and a lot to overcome.

Gibbs wrapped his hands up in the blanket he was holding and tilted his head. He still didn't know who she'd had an affair with in Charlottesville. He didn't know the guy's name or how old he was or where he was, and Kelly wasn't telling. He'd stopped fighting with her over it. He'd stopped being angry with her over this; he had gone from anger into a vague sort of dull acceptance: his daughter was having a baby, neither of them were ready for it, and he was pretty sure if she'd had a mother for half her life she'd never have gotten pregnant this young.

Kelly insisted it had nothing to do with that, but he couldn't be convinced otherwise.

He heard a door open and he straightened up and turned, bracing his hand on his thigh and letting the knit baby blanket hang from his hand. A young guy came out, holding a clipboard in his hand and checking a pager as he looked around.

"Gibbs?" he asked.

Gibbs nodded and stood up, tossing the baby blanket unceremoniously over his shoulder. He crossed his arms and stood at ease, waiting silently.

"Kelly did fine, no complications," he guy said – it looked like he was the nurse, based on his scrubs. "Baby's healthy," he added, nodding. "She wanted us to wait to come get you until everyone was cleaned up and pretty."

Gibbs nodded without a word, a little taken aback – so Kelly had kept him out even longer than he'd expected. He had thought he'd be called back the moment the baby was born but – maybe Kelly was self-conscious.

"How old is the baby?" Gibbs asked gruffly.

The nurse looked at his watch and then knit his brows thoughtfully.

"'Bout an hour," he said.

Gibbs frowned a little, but nodded.

"The lactation nurse has already been with her – "

Gibbs held up a hand, wincing slightly. He'd let Kelly talk to him about that stuff if she wanted to.

"Can I go in?" he asked simply.

The guy nodded, and gestured, leading him through two heavy doors and down the hall to a labor recovery room. He knocked softly on a door, opened it, looked in, and then pointed, allowing Gibbs to enter. He left them to it, disappearing back down the hall, and Gibbs shut the door behind him.

There were three women in this particular room; Kelly was over by the window, lying on her side, her back to the door. He strode over slowly, twisting the blanket in his hands. He made sure to ignore the other women – he did briefly hope they didn't think _he_ was Kelly's husband or something – but he forgot about them when he reached the end of Kelly's bed. The little plastic crib they pushed babies around in was at the foot of her bed, but it was empty.

He was about to clear his throat, when Kelly sensed him and turned her head rapidly, shifting a little. She lifted her hand and pointed down, her eyes brightening happily. She grinned.

"It's a _boy_," she announced. She bit her lip, and then beckoned rapidly, gesturing to a chair near the bed. "Come here, come here," she said softly.

Gibbs walked around the bed, glancing sideways at the statistics on the little crib, and he sat down tensely in the provided chair, on the edge of his seat. He looked down – and he saw that Kelly had her baby snuggled up next to her on the bed, nestled near her chest. She curled around him, looking down at him, and lowered her head a little, looking up at Gibbs, her eyes and lips near her son's hat-covered head.

Gibbs grit his teeth, struck by how young she looked. To him, she still looked barely sixteen; she still looked as fresh and eager as she had for her junior prom, and the day she'd gotten her driver's license, and he didn't know if he could take this – he didn't know if _she_ was ready for this.

"Daddy," Kelly said, sitting up a little. She rested her hand on the baby's brow and pulled his head back a little. "Look, he has a little hair. It's kind of reddish," she said quickly, her voice hushed. "And when he was born, he screamed and _screamed, _and he stopped when I got to hold him," she told him.

Gibbs leaned forward to look – the baby was asleep, his mouth moving a little. He was swaddled tightly, oblivious to his surroundings, clean and pink-faced. Gibbs smiled a little. He looked up and met Kelly's eyes intently, studying her a minute.

"You okay?" he asked sincerely.

"It wasn't _too_ bad," Kelly said. She took a deep breath, and then lowered her voice to a hush. "I got an epidural," she confessed, and glanced across the room. "I heard that woman talking about how they poison your babies, but I still had one."

Gibbs shrugged.

"He's healthy, isn't he?"

Kelly nodded. Gibbs shrugged again – then it didn't matter what that other woman said, did it? Besides, he wasn't sure he liked the idea of Kelly doing all this without any modern drugs – he doubted women back in the day would eschew an epidural if they knew they were available these days.

"He's eight pounds," Kelly said. "It's kind of big. And he's twenty-one inches, so maybe he'll be tall – "

"Kelly," Gibbs interrupted.

She stopped talking and blinked, raising her eyebrows.

"What's his name?"

"_Oh_," she breathed out, and laughed quietly. "Levi," she revealed, licking her lips.

"Levi?" Gibbs tried. "Why?"

She tilted her head.

"It was your mother's maiden name?"

He stared at her.

"_Dad_."

Gibbs shrugged – he just hadn't known that, and he couldn't explain why.

"I wanted something sort of different, but that meant he belonged, you know to me – well, my family, not …" she trailed off a moment. "Well, anyway, since he's not getting his father's last name, I had to have something that went okay with Gibbs."

"Levi," Gibbs said again, getting used to it. He nodded.

"Levi Michael," Kelly added. "'Cause of that NCIS agent that worked Mom's case. Mike Franks."

Gibbs nodded again, and leaned closer, peering down at his grandson. He smiled again, watching the baby sleep. It was a nice name – and he did like that she'd done enough thinking to keep it in the family. He was tempted to ask what the last name would have been, if Kelly had given Levi the father's, but he didn't want to start an argument.

Kelly looked up and around – at the other two women, who had husbands – or perhaps boyfriends – firmly attached to their hips, admiring their babies. She turned back to Gibbs, caught his eye, and shrugged.

She licked her lips, and pressed them together.

"He'll be okay, right?" she asked in a low voice.

Gibbs glanced over at the other families, catching her meaning cautiously. Did Levi need a father? Maybe – but he didn't need a deadbeat or a bastard, and Gibbs was firmly convinced that's what Kelly's paramour was.

"Plenty of women do it alone, Kel," Gibbs placated.

Kelly bit her thumb, and looked down at him. She grinned and leaned closer, kissing his face softly.

"He's so cute," she sighed. "He's so cute and I _love_ him."

Gibbs smiled, though she stressed him out a little – she sounded like a teenager, excited to meet a new baby for the first time: the problem was, that's exactly what she was, except it was _her_ baby – there was no handing it off back to its mother. He knew he didn't need to say anything: Kelly would realize soon that this wasn't going to be all cute fun and games, but for some reason it bothered him that she didn't seem fazed at all.

She laid down and curled around him, crinkling her face up and kissing his ears while he slept, and he watched his teenage daughter snuggle her new baby and he felt oddly like he'd failed her, somehow.

He leaned forward, holding out the blanket.

"This was yours," he said gruffly, showing it to her. He hesitated. "Your mom made it."

She paused, and blinked, staring at the old blanket. She reached for it, still lying down with Levi, and she pulled it to her, holding it to her face gently – like maybe it still smelled like her mother. She closed her eyes and rested a moment.

"Daddy, do you want to hold him?" she asked quietly, her eyes still closed.

He flexed his knuckles.

"Yeah," he said hoarsely, eagerly – he did want to hold him, and he scooted his chair forward.

Kelly opened her eyes slowly, and then she sat up, hesitating for a moment, and then picking up Levi and passing him to Gibbs.

"Kelly," Gibbs said tensely. "His head," he warned – she quickly gave his head more support, and flushed as she transferred him over.

She sat back, and drew her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and twisting the baby blanket in her hands. Gibbs expertly cradled his grandson against his chest and leaned back easily. Kelly watched a moment, and then she looked around, and down at the blanket she held.

"Eight pounds isn't really _that_ big," she said suddenly. Gibbs looked up at her. "It's actually kind of tiny," she added in a small voice.

He met her eyes, and then there it was: fear, worry, uncertainty. He felt relieved – he didn't want Kelly to be petrified into irresponsibility, but the effervescent optimism had been a little worrying in its own right: nineteen-year-olds shouldn't be accepting motherhood like they had not a care or a worry in the world – not even grown, married, financially stable mothers and fathers did that.

"He'll get bigger," Gibbs promised.

"Then he'll _walk_," Kelly said, eyes wide. "What if I don't even have a degree, and he's walking?"

"He will be, Kelly," Gibbs said gently.

She bit her lip and leaned forward, resting her cheek on her knees. She sighed heavily.

"I wasn't holding him because I'm afraid he's going to break," she admitted, and she looked tired suddenly. She pulled hard on her old baby blanket, watching her father hold the baby.

Gibbs looked down at the kid, tilting his head thoughtfully.

"He's handsome, Kel," he said gruffly.

Kelly smiled. She rubbed her nose gently and took a deep breath.

"What if something happens, and I don't know what to do?" she asked quietly.

"You'll learn," Gibbs grunted. He paused. "I'll let you figure it out, but if I think you're gonna kill 'im, I'll intervene," he promised, deadpan.

Kelly laughed huskily, rubbing her nose again. She swiped her hands at her eyes and scrunched her nose. Gibbs shifted, and Levi started to open his eyes - he blinked at Gibbs unhappily and squirmed around, opening his mouth wide.

Gibbs stood up and sat down on the edge of Kelly's bed.

"Mommy's right here," he said sternly, and handed him over before he could start to cry.

Kelly took him gingerly and held him close, adjusting his little cap, and moving her knees so she could cradle him.

"Mommy," she said, lowering her head and puckering her lips. She held her breath, and looked up at Gibbs, wide-eyed. "Mommy, I – oh my _god_," she whined. She shook her head. "I'm not old enough – "

"You should have – "

"Thought about that, I _know_," she said, frustrated. She pushed her hair back with one hand and rocked Levi a little. "Well, I'm thinking about it now!" she sounded panicked, and Gibbs reached over and took her shoulder, squeezing tightly.

It was hard for him to talk about Shannon, but he thought she needed it now –

"Your mother … didn't know what to do … either," he said succinctly. "She learned."

Kelly's lips shook.

"You're not even old enough to be a grandfather," she burst out. "I don't even want to hear someone call you that … it makes you seem old, and you're the only person me and Levi have, you can't be _old_ – "

Gibbs laughed, and leaned forward. He kissed his daughter's forehead comfortingly, and rubbed her shoulder until she quieted down, soothed. There it was, they were both too young for this – he was going to have to get older fast, and she was going to have to grow up: Levi was going to have to be her life, not friends, not parties, not traveling - not even school: Levi.

He glanced over to the bed across from Kelly – he'd heard the couple there arguing softly while Kelly was talking – Marine hearing, and all.

"Can you feed 'im?" he asked.

"What? Oh yeah – that's easy, I didn't even need a nurse, he just latches like it's nothing – "

"Then you got one-up on that one," Gibbs said, jerking his thumb subtly at the other bed. "She's been arguin' with her husband over how to get hers to nurse the whole time I been in here."

It seemed like a paltry encouragement to him, but Kelly's face brightened, and she looked relieved. Her eyes calmed, and lit up, and she smiled, looking down almost smugly – it must have been just a little thing she needed to hear, and to reinforce that small victory, knowing there would be so much struggle for her coming in the early years of Levi's life, Gibbs kissed her forehead again.

He looked down at the baby and grunted approvingly.

"He can call me Gunny," he said, deciding that was appropriate – and definitely better than any derivative of grandfather.

Kelly took Levi's hand, took Gibbs,' and pressed them together – she giggled, and he was struck again by how much his daughter sounded like a child – but he had to stop looking at her that way now.

Kelly pursed her lips at Levi and arched her brows in an affectionate face.

She said, in soft, maternal tones -

"Gun-ny!"

She needed to get used to those maternal tones - she had to be a mother, now - before she was a teenager, before she was a student or a girlfriend or whatever she wanted to be - it didn't matter how young she was: she had to be a mother first.

* * *

_-i wonder, do all these teenagers (boys included!) realize that babies aren't just pocket accessories?_

_-Alexandra_  
_story#205_


End file.
